The Unfolding Friendship
by MouseyMoose
Summary: (Mouse) One wants to go on an adventure, and the other just wants her to stay home where its safe. Conflicting interests meet again as the adventure begins. A sequel to my first story, A Hobbit and an Elf. After the Hobbit before LotR.
1. Chapter 1

Most people believed that the valley of Imladris never had "bad weather". That wasn't entirely true however, but it never got as bad as the weather above the valley. If it did snow, it usually only lasted for a week or two at most, and it was never more than a dusting. It rained for about a month straight each year. Just after the crisp of winter would be dying and spring coming with its sweet warmth, the skies would open and not close for weeks. It was a gentle rain, coming down straight and soft, never blowing sideways. The wind couldn't blow like that in the valley.

It was during this rainy month that Tessaring found herself back in the Last Homely House. Her quest was finished, and she was waiting for another. She had tried very hard to sleep that night but was unable to quiet her mind, so she decided to wander through the many paths of her second home-although she didn't really know what was her first.

Home was never an option for her, not after her sentencing. She could always go back there, no doubt about it, but it wasn't really the place that she didn't want to go back to, it was the people. They most likely would look at her like she was nothing but dark light. As much as she hated admitting it, she knew that was what she didn't want to see, the disappointment of what she had become and did. She hoped that they had forgotten her and the pain she had caused them…the pain she somehow managed to cause everyone. She found it easier to push people away then to let them in. If they came close, the only thing she could promise was more pain for them.

Her thoughts had wandered like this till she found herself at one of the highest peaks in the valley. It was an area usually no one went to and even Tessaring had only been there once or twice. But she found herself her once again. It looked like a giant white gazebo with a small stream wrapped around it. There was a stone table and chairs in the middle, a darker color due to the steady rain. The rain seemed to be a little more abusive from up here, but it didn't really matter, Tessaring's cloak was already soaked.

Either she woke up later then she guessed or had been wandering for far longer than she expected, she could see the sun peaking up from its bed of hills. It was coming between the tops of the valley and the bottom of the clouds and would disappear as soon as it came. The light that it made created a new type of beauty though; a golden light reflecting off of grey clouds and bouncing off of brown grass, a sight only to be seen in Rivendell.

Tessaring walked to the edge of the gazebo where there was a small ledge sticking farther out. She stood there and watched as the sun came up and began to disappear. Relaxing in the beauty of the light, her mind stopped its chase and let her just stand and relax. But the moment didn't last as long as she hoped.

"You never cease to amaze me," a voice from behind said, "always finding yourself in places you need not be."

Tessaring didn't turn to face the voice that was speaking, but instead continued facing forward out towards the sun's rising. "If you did not want me in here perhaps you should have put a guard on the path. No one stopped me."

"Perhaps I will." The owner of the voice, Lord Elrond, now stood next to her.

"Do you have a task for me yet?" Tessaring asked, intentionally leaving out the 'my lord' part in their conversation and Elrond did not miss it when she did. He turned to face her for a minute, slightly glaring to see if she merely forgot, but when she didn't correct herself he turned back to the now disappearing sun.

"No, I don't. Not yet." He replied.

"Surprising. Thought you would have me booked for the next Age."

He laughed, "As did I, but many things that I had tasked for you worked themselves out before you could get to them. I suppose there are many small things that you could do," he could hear her gritting her teeth at this remark. "But I know how you hate when your talents are 'wasted'."

She sighed as the sun finally left going up into the clouds, making the valley dark and grey again. She decided that if he had nothing for her and if she wasn't supposed to be here that she mine-as-well leave now.

As she turned on her heels to go, Elrond reached out and grabbed her arm, "You could always go home you know." He said in a whisper.

"Yes. I'm sure I could." She coldly responded, not meeting his gaze.

"Why do you refuse to go back? You obviously want to and you know you can, so what is it that holds you here?" She did not respond though so he continued, "Maybe it's the guilt of what drove you from it in the first place, or the shame of what it lead to in the end?" Still, no response, only an icy glare away from him, "Is it the halfling?"

With that she pulled her arm out of his grip with a hard jerk and began walking away. A thought she had finally calmed being revisited was not greatly welcomed. She continued walking, but he walked after her.

"The birds and trees speak of her often. They say she goes into the woods regularly now, preferring the company of nature over the company of her folk."

"She is old enough to make her own choices of how she spends her time I believe." She called back, still walking at a brisk pace.

"She speaks little to her people and more to the animals." Elrond tried to say.

"As do I, and you don't make a fuss over me." She replied shortly. She wasn't quite sure how he did it, but he managed to match her pace and grab her arm again, stopping her in her tracks, pulling her so that she would have to face him.

"They say she speaks of leaving the Shire." He said quietly.

Tessaring did not have a reply right away like she usually did, instead she thought about her answer for a minute before replying. "What I told her when I last saw her was a warning. A warning to what going off to see the world would lead to. But a warning can be ignored by choice. So if she goes off on an adventure, then it is her dealings…a dealing I will not concern myself with." Again she twisted her arm out of Elronds grip, slightly more gently this time.

She began walking away again when he called to her again, "Trastad!" she stopped, but did not turn. "I hope you do know that I do worry for you."

No reply was heard except the sound of the rain hitting the hard stone, along with Tessaring's boots walking away.

…..

I have been planning this next story for a long time now, coming at it from all different angles, but this one was the one I liked best. Got the nice shroud of unanswered questions enough to make you come back I hope…? Maybe? I hope. This is the sequel to the first story of the two main characters. If you would like to read that first you can find it on this page. But if you have already read that, maybe you could check out the first, unedited version I created on my personal page called MouseTalk. (Be warned that even the updated version has wrong facts. It was my first fic so it was bound to have slips.) R&R please.

BIYE,

Mouse.


	2. Chapter 2

Two years. It had been two years since the Warg attack. At first other Hobbits took pity on her for what happened, but now they all call her insane for what she does. For the way she still chooses to venture into the forest. The way she talks to the animals.

"Got a screw in 'er 'ead loose, she dose. That Daila Took!" the Gaffer had said. He thought she was nowhere around when he said it, but Daila was right around the corner. It was okay though, she didn't really give much of a thought to what the old Gaffer thought of her, or anybody really. She just didn't care.

In human years, Daila was still a child, being only twelve to them. But in Hobbit years, she was eighteen and expected to do much more than before. Most of the time, things would be left unfinished for the next day because Daila would go out in the woods everyday now as opposed to the every once and a while like before. This annoyed her mother and troubled her father.

"Why can't you just do your share anymore?" her mother asked one night as Daila was about to go out to the woods, "Why must you always go out into those dreaded forest? Ya know some of the others are talking about you, saying your insane!"

"I know." Daila quietly replied.

"Then why do you do it?" her mother was very confused. Daila had been such a nice young girl before, respectable and kind. Now she was quiet, withdrawn, so very different from the old Daila. "Why must you go in? Are you looking for the Elf again?"

Daila met her mother's eyes directly that time, "I go there because the trees and animals understand me much better than any of the Hobbits anymore!"

"What are you talking about?" her dad asked.

"Everyone thinks I'm insane! They think I am literally out of my mind! The trees don't think that about me! The animals don't judge me! They don't question my methods or my dreams!" She said back.

"What? What dreams? You've never told us anything. How are we supposed to help you if we don't know what you want to do?" her dad said again.

Daila paused, "I-I…I want to go on an adventure." Her parents stood silent and still so Daila continued, "I want to see the world over the boarders of the Shire. I want to go to Rivendell like Mr. Baggins. I want to see the Earth!"

"No." Her mother said shortly. "No. You do not get to-to throw you life away-"

"I'm not! I'm a Took! We've gone on tons of adventures!"

"You are not going on an adventure!"

"Ma-"

"No, Daila Took, and that's final!" her mother ended. The three all stood in silence again. Daila and her mother were having a deadly stare off. Then Daila went for the door, but her mom got hold of her arm and her dad stood in front of the door. "No! Daila, no more woods. Its making you unsocial!"

"Like I bloody care!" Daila yelled. She hadn't meant to, but the frustration was too much.

"Daila, go to your room." Her dad said.

"But-"

"Go!" She stood there for a moment and look at her father, but did as he asked and went to her room.

She sat on her bed, letting the tears silently fall down her face. She knew her parents would reject her plan, that's why she never told them. But she didn't know they would completely crush it.

"Heh." She laughed to herself, "I guess this is the second time that something like this has happened."

Then she heard a soft knock on her door, it opened slightly and Daino, her older brother, slipped in. "Hey." He said. "Heard what happened." She didn't respond. She didn't even try to hide the fact that she was crying. "So…you really want to go on an adventure?"

"Yeah." She basically whispered her response.

"Why?"

She took a moment to steady her breath before replying, "Because I'm a Took. Adventuring is in our blood."

"Well I'm fine staying here." Daino bluntly said.

"Some more than others." She left it there and let silence hang over the room.

"Will you go?" he eventually asked.

"Yes." again whispering her response. Her simple but blunt answer caught him off guard, he didn't know how to respond. He opened his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something, but words failed him. Instead he turned and left the room quickly.

Daila still sat on her bed, never moving. Her tears had dried and left her emotionless. She didn't know how long she sat there, but the sun had set and the moon had come out. It was nearly spring, but it was already quite warm so there was no need of a fire to tend to that night.

As Daila sat on the edge of her bed, she looked around her room, looking at all the things she would bring with her on her adventure. One brown dress, a shirt and heavy pair of pants, a walking stick, rope, a water canteen, even a few hair bands- her hair was down to her mid back now. She had even collected a small stash of food for the trip in the pantry.

She was ready, but her family was holding her back. They still thought of her as the old Daila Took, gentle and kind, not needing anything more than the Shire. But that was not Daila anymore. She had starred a giant, flesh eating, crazed Warg right in the face. That was the same as looking death directly in the face as far as Daila was concerned.

As she looked around her room, her eyes came to rest on the small chest in the corner or the room. She got off of her bed and walked to it, kneeling down in front of it. She lifted a hand above the latch, hesitating to open it, but eventually her hand closed the distance and threw open the lid. Inside was the most important part of her future adventures. It was a pack she had bought with her own coin, and it cost quite a bit! But it was nice and sturdy. Good sized, but not too heavy.

She lifted it from the chest, running her hands over it like it was precious metal or something of the like. To her, it was. With this she could go on adventures. Suddenly, she felt as nothing was holding her back anymore, not even her family. She quickly opened the pack and placed it on her bed. She rushed around her room, getting all the things she saw and other necessary things.

Before she knew it, it was packed, she was dressed, and her walking stick was in her hand. She turned and faced her bedroom door and reached for the handle. Her hand stopped though, firmly frozen above the handle. The thoughts of what she was doing finally caught up with her. She couldn't just leave like this. She couldn't just go. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't do that to her family.

Daila backed away from the door and removed the pack from her back, putting the stick against the wall, and sitting back down on her bed. She sat where she was before, like she never moved. Again the tears sprang from her eyes, but her face never changed in emotion. Still and hard.

…..

Second chapter! Yay! In the prequel to this story I said Daila was sixteen years old, believing there to be no difference in Human years and Hobbit years. Well…no. At sixteen human years, Daila would have been twenty-five Hobbit years. So I switched it around. Daila was sixteen Hobbit years in the first, also making her ten in Human years. Confusing! But now that is out of the way, please R&R.

By the way, this is like the last of all this pre-story set up crap. The party will start in the next chapter, so stick around till them.

BIYE,

Mouse.


	3. Chapter 3

Another year went by. This made it three years since the Warg attack. Three years might have gone by, but that still hadn't changed the experience of it, nor the result of it. Nightmares were common in the life of Daila Took, which caused her to resent sleep, sometimes getting none at all.

She woke one morning-well got up more like seeing as it had been one of those nights that sleep was a myth-to her brother standing in her room.

"What do you want?" she asked, sitting up in her bed. Daino didn't speak, instead he held up his hand, there he was holding her pack she had bought last year. Daila quickly hopped out of bed and grabbed the pack, "What the bloody heck do you think you're doing? Who said you can snoop around my stuff?" She asked inspecting it for damages.

She was about to put the pack back in the chest that he had taken it from when Daino finally spoke, "You really are planning to leave, aren't ya?" She hadn't noticed at first, but when he spoke, his voice was laced with sadness. He was obviously at the brink of tears.

"I bought this a year ago." She said, "I'm still here." She put it away , seeing that it wasn't that important anymore.

"But you still have it. You could still go when you wanted too." Her brother replied.

She paused for a moment in front of the chest. "Yes…I guess I could." She stood and turned to face him now, "But why are you in my room? Why are you going through my things?"

"Mom sent me in here." Daila rolled her eyes at this. Figured as much, "You still have been acting funny. I guess I know why."

"How do you want me to act Daino? Seriously! How? I was lost in the woods, almost eaten alive, and…" She paused on her last point. "and met an Elf." She finished with a hushed voice, "What do you want me to act like? Normal? That was out the window the second I ran into the woods that night!"

"Then why do you keep going back?" he asked with a raised voice, "Why would you ever go into the woods that almost got you killed?"

"Because!" she stopped. She hadn't realized how loud her and her brother had gotten. They weren't trying to outmatch each other in a screaming match now. "Because I've never felt more alive…than when that happened."

Daino scoffed at her in disgust and turned towards the door, "Then why don't you just leave then!"

He slammed her door shut again, leaving Daila standing there, frozen towards the door. She listened for the sound of her brother coming back to apologize, but it was never heard. She listened for the sound of her mother to come in and try to right what was said, but it was never heard. She listened for the sound of her father stopping Daino in his tracks and scolding him for what was just said, but it was never heard. The full house was silent, listening for her response instead. Her response was to stand there, losing all track of time till the house stopped listening and went back to normal.

"Normal." She scoffed to herself. "Normal. That's all they ever wanted. A normal child, in a normal house, with a normal family." She moved back over to the chest and flung it open. "I'm not normal, "she pulled out the pack again, "so I mine as well just leave."

She sat her pack on the bed and ran around the room like she had done a year ago, collecting things she deemed needed for her trip. She even managed to get to the pantry and back with food supplies she had set aside.

She even made her bed, "This might be brash," she thought to herself, "But I'm not going to leave my family a mess when I'm gone."

Then she put her coat on, cause this year's winter was holding on longer than the last, followed by her pack. She grabbed her walking stick and stood in front of the door. Her hand reached towards the door handle and it froze, just hanging above the handle.

She listened to the house again, her brother and father had left for work without even saying goodbye, and her mother was in the kitchen, all they wanted for her was to be normal. Live a long, same, old, boring, normal life. That's what they wanted for Daila. But they never even considered that maybe that's not what Daila wanted.

Her hand firmly fell onto the door handle and pulled it open, she shut it most of the way behind her too. She walked through the house she was once content to call her own and reached the front door. Her mother was still in the kitchen doing who knows what, but certainly not caring.

Daila turned again and faced the front door and reached for the handle. This handle was harder than the last because it meant so much more. It wasn't just her room she was walking away from, this was her home. Her life, her past, and her future. This was her family. This door would be her defining moment.

Daila's mother was making tea, "Well, a little tea, maybe a biscuit or two, that should cheer her up." So she continued with her things. The tea was soon ready, so she put it along with two cups and some biscuits on a tray and walked towards Daila's room.

She walked through the living room and saw that the door was opened a crack. "Oh those men. They never shut it all the way. Its to brisk to leave it wide open." So she bumped it shut with her hip and continued on her way. Once to Daila's door she called in, "Daila? Daila, honey, can ma come in?" But there was no response, "I'm sorry about what Daino said to you, that boy tends to speak without thinking." But still, the other side of the door was silent, "Daila, are you okay? Honey-" she asked as she awkwardly opened the door.

Her words were stopped however when a completely empty room greeted her. It took her little to no time to piece it all together. The tray slipped through her hands and crashed to the floor, tea and glass went in all directions, she didn't care though, her thoughts was getting to the door.

She got there and flung it open, "DAILA!" she screamed from the door step. "DAILA!" now all of her neighbors were looking at her, "HAS ANYONE SEEN DAILA?"

…

So I know I kinda said that the party would start in the next chapter on the last chapter…but this seemed a little important in include. It wasn't originally supposed to be a year later, but hey, I improvised and went with it. So the next chapter is when the story should start and I guess we'll get to see how good of a packer Daila is. Lol! But please let me know what you thought in the reviews and follow to stay updated.

BIYE,

Mouse


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